CHAPTER XVII.

WHENCE COME MY PEOPLE?

The holiday recesses were spent by Chiquita in the great eastern cities, where she attended theater, opera, and many social functions of greater or lesser magnitude.

After Jack's wedding she came to rely upon his wife--who found the Indian Senorita always included in the invitations sent the Sheppard house--to smooth the difficult paths of etiquette and to instruct her in the many formalities necessarily omitted in her college life, that were imperative upon being presented in the whirl of fashionable circles. She was welcomed by various clubs, literary folk, and at state receptions--this grandly intellectual daughter of a savage chief.

The first great effort she made in behalf of her people was an attempt to forestall the opening of the great expanse of land in the Indian Territory to settlement by the white people. A venerable senator from Massachusetts espoused her cause sufficiently to awaken a hope in her inexperienced breast that the object could be accomplished. Another, from a western state, gladly joined in the undertaking, while a brilliant ex-secretary of state devoted his energies in her behalf.

At a memorable cabinet meeting the question was discussed, and in the presence of that august body, and of the President himself, Chiquita delivered her appeal, recounting step by step the claims under which the prerogative of the Indian to the land in question should be forever recognized:

"Mr. President, and gentlemen who constitute his advisers, you ask whence come my people?

"For ages, as countless as the sands of the Big River, the fresh waters of the great inland seas skirting the first lofty range of the Rocky Mountains washed in torrents and torrents the salt deposited by the great upheavals of the western continent, through the yawning canons which were created by these torrents' own irresistible force, to the bases of the great barrier where the sun disappears. The fresh waters' encroaching left their alluvial deposits further and further toward the setting sun in the same manner as the white settlers dispossessed the noble red warrior and primeval possessor of the Western hemisphere. The fresh waters divided and subdivided into smaller and smaller compasses. In these grand forest-grown, grass-covered areas herds of wild horses, buffalo, deer, elk and mountain sheep found subsistence. The fertile valleys and meadows were thronged with villages of beaver, otter and mink, whose dams were overgrown with the silvery-leafed aspen upon which these busy families existed. The forests were fragrant with fir, cedar and pine, among whose branches the birds of the wood built their nests.

"But before these were other possessors of this great mass of tangled volcanic eruptions, at a time so remote that the mind becomes a mist, a fog bank in its endeavor to locate the date, and then only as an age, it being impossible to determine the century. The fossils of these prehistoric creatures have been found in deposits over three thousand feet in thickness, species until recently unknown to science. Here man inhabited dwellings of unhewn stone cemented with mortar containing volcanic ashes, at a period so long ago that the waters were supposed to wash the face of the cliffs upon whose precipitous side these ancient people lived, in evidence of which are the fossilized human bones.

"In this legacy is found the answer, 'Whence come my people?' And what nation has ever disputed the title of land conveyed by the Indians? As early as 1851, when Colorado was organized as a territory, a treaty was made at Fort Laramie with several tribes of Indians, by which the latter gave up all the lands east of the Rocky Mountains. West of the continental divide were the great warlike tribes of Utes extending to the Sierra Nevadas, 15,000 free-born American savages to whose necks the galling yoke of civilization was to be adjusted.

"The Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Comanches and Kiowas, plains Indians, were mild and tractable in comparison with the Utes. These latter were fearless, indomitable warriors, who owned the forest, the river beds and mountain crags by inheritance from Almighty God, and whose disestablishment is written in letters of blood where the forest man was the aggressor by retaliation. But the outrages of the new people, the educated, civilized white man, must be forever unrecorded. Repudiation, shameless duplicity, political and martial perfidy, local and national, followed each other year after year until 1865, when the final treaties effected the abandonment of Colorado by the plains Indians, who were removed to the Indian Territory, where the government agreed to pay each Indian $40 annually for forty years.

"My people, the White River Utes, had taken no part in the plains Indian controversies with the white people, and, while the Utes' territory bordered that of the Arapahoes and Cheyennes, the only courtesies were the exchanging of scalps and horses whenever they met. The time arrived when agents were appointed by the government to reside with each Indian tribe. These agents were generally respected and settled many jealousies which sprang up between the various bands of the tribe.

"Nevava, the great Ute chief of the White River tribes, had passed into the Happy Hunting Grounds and his sons each claimed the inheritance of ruler. There were many in the tribes who would gladly have accepted the distinction, but Ouray was appointed chief over all, the lesser chiefs being forced to content themselves with such following as their individual qualities could command. This caused great jealousy and in 1875 many conspired against Ouray. The neglect of the government to pay the annuities was charged against the big head chief, who was said to be in collusion with certain white men in depriving the Utes of their goods, and the question was ofttimes asked, 'How comes Ouray to be so rich?'

"In 1879, the venerable N. C. Meeker was appointed to take charge, as agent, of my people at White River. He undertook the task of educating the Ute warriors to plow. Opposition met him at the start, for the soil is no more Ute soil when once broken by the white man's plow.

"Aid from the war department was expected to force the warriors to till the soil.

"Runners carried the news to the agency that a band of Utes who had set out to hunt had ambushed the cavalry. The final outcome of this outbreak cost us our home in Colorado, for soon after the relief of the cavalry the White River agency was abandoned and my people removed to the Uintah Reservation in Utah. It is too late now to undo the wrong which resulted in the removal of the Utes from Colorado, but, gentlemen, the land given over and set apart by your own government in the Indian Territory for those tribes now occupying the domain should be held sacred. I appeal to you to keep this land intact and forbid its being thrown into the hands of speculating spoilers. The Indian is not able to cope with the cunning of the white brother, and he is unable to endure the conditions by which his white brother naturally adapts himself to the cultivation of the soil, the marketing of produce and protection of estate."

The appeal was in vain. The political influence of cattle barons proved too great, and the concourse of settlers swallowed the territory in question. The result was very disheartening to Chiquita, but she bore up and turned her attention to other duties, preparing for the final establishment of her home for the aged and infirm Indians. This home she decided to model after a plan of her own, unlike anything in any city, possibly in the world. Persistent effort among the political leaders of both great parties resulted in Congress setting apart, in western Colorado, a large tract equal to one hundred miles square, to include a portion of the land on the north side of the Grand River, where it cut the Park or Gore range, taking in the old Ute trail, the camp in the willows, the junction of Rock and Toponas Creeks and the high divide along the edge of Egeria Park, where Jack froze his feet.

The tract of land became by law the National Hunting Ground of the Blanket Indian, provision being made for the maintaining of the park, policing, stocking with game and fish, as the same might be killed or disappear. No white man was to be allowed to hunt or fish under any circumstances within the domain, no squaw with white man husband and no descendants of any but full-blooded Indians were to be allowed to take up residence within its established lines. No cultivation of the soil for domestic purposes, no harvesting of any crop whatsoever, no institutions of learning, no mercantile establishments, no Indian agency to obtain footing, no railroad, no stage line for tourists, no telegraph or telephone poles and no vehicles of any kind were to be tolerated. Tourists afoot or on horseback accompanied by an Indian guide, a resident of the park, could travel and camp, the guide allowed to kill game or catch fish for his party as food supply, but no game or fish to be taken from the park. The one exception to all this was the immense hospital and necessary minor buildings, an ambulance, vehicles and paraphernalia for conveying disabled persons, supplies for the hospital, and nurses to and from the nearest railway. All food products, supplies and clothing were to be obtained outside of the park lines and all annuities due the Indians were to be paid them at agencies established without the park.

When the bill making these provisions came before the upper house for a final vote, a tall, white-haired senator responded to his name and arose. Pointing with outstretched hand to the gallery, where a group of aged, wrinkled chiefs congregated about a fair Indian girl, he said, in part:

"Tardy as this action of the great American people may seem, I think I echo the sentiments of both friends and foes of this persecuted race when I raise my voice in their behalf. The foes of the Indian are but the natural result of broken faith, and while it may be good logic to say one white man is worth more than all the Indians ever created, it does not condone the trespass committed when the white man became the usurper and confiscator of the very thing given voluntarily by his fathers and forefathers. Follow the patient man of the forest as the dogs of civilization barked at his heels, worrying him the same as the doe becomes affrighted when she hears the deep bay of the hound upon her track. Look at the primitive means of defense with which the noble red man attempted to defend his domain against the onward march of civilization. The pages of the record of this chamber, of the war department, of the department of the interior are dripping with the blood of this race, defrauded of their homes, their hunting grounds, aye, gentlemen, even their burying grounds. 'Move on! Move on!' has been the command since 1620, until this handful of a great and brave nation are today but remnants of cowardly and degraded tribes, made so by the damnable treachery of American white people and their civilized methods of aggression. I consider it one of the greatest honors of my life to be able to face that faithful, devoted Indian girl, Chiquita, and cast my vote 'aye' in this weak and tardy attempt at remuneration."

Two tiny red spots burned in Chiquita's cheeks as the senator finished. She smiled at the applause which greeted the venerable member and prepared to listen to the rest of the voting. When the last name was called, before the teller could announce the result, a cheer from the galleries burst forth, every eye was directed toward Chiquita, and in response to the wave of applause she arose and bowed her appreciation of the action of that august body.

But the excitement proved too great a strain upon her temperament, and she was carried to the hotel in a fainting condition. As she recovered consciousness, she said to Hazel, "Chiquita will be one of the first to leave the National Hunting Ground for the great Happy Hunting Ground above." She realized that her vitality was weakened, that overwork and exposure had made her vulnerable to insidious disease, whose progress would be rapid now that the weakened spots had succumbed to its ravages. But she would not give up the cherished hopes of seeing her one aim in life accomplished, the forest-grown reservation where her people could forever hunt and fish without further molestation or dividing up of the land, and in its center wigwams, lodges, tepees and her great hospital for the sick, helpless and aged when they would be unable to take care of themselves.

Immediate preparations were made to carry out her cherished wish, which had been so many years her aim. With Jack to aid her the purchases of material were made. Contracts were entered into for the erection of the buildings and equipment therefor. Nurses and attendants were engaged for the hospitals, and for a year she watched the accumulating results which her education and fortune were bringing about.

But the task of civilization was one which nature condemned in such a short period. The overwork and confinement was more than she could endure and she sought rest from the weary toil inflicted upon herself in behalf of her people.

In a grove of tall fir trees, close to the placid waters of the Grand River, Yamanatz erected his tepee, where in the soft, balmy air, fragrant with balsam and cedar, Chiquita could rest and watch the clouds as they made great shadow pictures on the mountain and stream. Like a sentinel, a lone peak stood beyond the cleft in the great divide, whose precipitous sides rose in towering splendor all clad in verdure green. The river reflected on its mirror of millions of tiny drops of sparkling water, the blue sky, the trees tinted red by the setting sun, the tepee on the bank of the stream and the mountain tipped with its cap of eternal snow. The camp fire sent a spiral of thin blue smoke toward the azure dome, and by the lurid coals two Utes smoked in silence. Within the sign-bedecked tepee, upon a couch of lion skins, lay Chiquita, clad in hunting garb, her rifle and fishing rod beside her. Yamanatz, Antelope, Jack, and the mother of Chiquita stood by, while the fairest of the White River maidens told them of the great happiness which awaited her in the Happy Hunting Ground of the Utes which lay just beyond the sky.

"If my father and my mother were only there," said Chiquita, as she pointed beyond the cleft above the river. "And, Jack," she continued, "you must beg leave of absence from the heaven of the white man and visit Chiquita in her happy home. You will find birds that sing and the bounding deer and flowers that bloom. The warriors of many, many snows are gathered there and you will see the Utes in all their grandeur, as they were before the white man took their land."

"But what of your friends, Chiquita, those who taught you of the religion of our people, of the only Christ who died to save mankind?" asked Jack, as he recalled the years and years of Chiquita's life in school, in college, in the hospital, the church and in the society of the ablest women of the nineteenth century.

"Ah, Jack!" Chiquita waited a moment, then with her bright eyes reflecting the love of the forest queen for her native haunts, customs and the freedom of the woods, she continued, "The God who gave you the Christ gave you also wisdom, and with that wisdom cruel weapons to drive the weaker to destruction. The paleface has driven the red man to his death. My people share not the needs nor desires which civilization brings to the white brethren, nor the society demands which make our paleface sister a slave to her calling. Jack, I have lived among my white sisters, I have been one of them, been sought for, banqueted, heralded and had tributes of honor thrust upon me. No school, no church, no institution of science, no club, no society, no matter how select, has been other than glad to have Chiquita honor them with her presence. With wealth untold and accomplishments unattained before by any woman in the world, Chiquita returns to her forest home for peace and contentment. 'In my Father's house are many mansions.' Yes, Jack, and the tepees of the great Indian nation stretch beyond the sky to welcome Chiquita. See, Jack, father, mother, the braves in all their glorious array are waiting for Chiquita! 'Our Father,' the Great Spirit of both the red and white man, welcomes. It is in the peace of the Happy Hunting Ground that we find rest. Adios, Jack. The great Yamanatz will soon follow and it will not be long ere all my people are as the buffalo, and the white man alone in the land that once was a paradise, but the mockery of civilization turned it into a stench hole of iniquity and market place of educated vampires, against which the child of the forest of the same God had no"-- The voice failed to respond to the effort. Chiquita was dead. And with her was buried that undying, unquenchable, unsung love which consumed her heart.

A camp bird, in subdued autumn plumage of black and pearl gray, mewed plaintively as the old warrior came forth from the tepee. The wrinkled visaged chief beat his breast and muttered in Ute dialect the prayers of a bereaved father for a dead daughter. The old "medicine" chief ceased to bang the tom-tom and the jargon of the squaws was silenced. Jack looked on with keen disappointment. For years he had watched and sympathized with Chiquita in her ambition; and now at the last turn in the great course of life, after tasting nearly every phase of civilized honor, she had returned to the religion of her fathers and died with utter contempt in her heart for the foibles and allurements of civilization, civilized society and civilized government.

Transcribers notes:

Obvious typos and punctuation errors corrected.

Pg 31 and 266, Space after Emdashes, used as thought breaks, retained: ...Hemmingway"-- Jack... ...Hazel"-- A softer,... ...should she"-- He is not...

Pg 40, 41, & 49 - Corrected spelling of 'accumulated' from 'accummulated.'

Pg 165 Corrected spelling of 'Furthermore' from 'Futhermore.'

Pg 183 "Lazy L" symbol used in original instead of text. It is a serif upper case "L" rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise.

Pg 212 Corrected 'form' to 'formed', para 1, line 4.

Pg 220 Added accent to 'protoges' (a bride and his two protoges)

Pg 240 Removed extra quote mark before Miss Asquith telegram signature.

Pg 265 Corrected spelling of 'Faithfully' from 'Faithfuly' she performed...

Pg 267 Corrected spelling of 'performed' from 'perfomed' (Mechanically she perfomed...)

Pg 301 Corrected spelling of 'burying' ('...even their burrying grounds...')

Pg 305 Space retained after Emdash, used in lieu of a period at the end of sentence: ...same God had no"-- The voice failed...

End of Project Gutenberg's Chiquita, an American Novel, by Merrill Tileston